in this issue:
bulletin: TERRI SCHIAVO
china: SPECIAL SERVICE
cytotec: DO-IT-YOURSELF ABORTIONS
dark side: FRANCES KISSLING / NOW / SPIN ZONE
human cloning: HUMAN-RABBIT HYBRID / PERSPECTIVE / REALITY CHECK
morning-after abortion pill: CANADA
planned parenthood: TEXAS
population control: USAID
the practice: BRIAN FINKEL
reflection for prayer: PSALM 146:6-7
bulletin
TERRI SCHIAVO: The case of the disabled Florida woman whose husband wishes to withdraw her feeding tube is even getting the attention of columnists who generally do not write from a pro-life perspective. Debra Saunders says she supports “abortion rights,” but also supports the effort to keep Schiavo alive. Saunders says the idea that Terri is on “life support” is misleading. “When you think ‘life support,’ you think big, noisy, invasive machine. For Terri, ‘life support’ means: food, delivered through a tube to her abdomen.” Saunders also quotes the family’s attorney, Patricia Anderson: “If you decided to starve your dog, do you know what would happen to you?”
COMMENT: Unless courts intervene, Terri Schiavo will die of starvation. Please pray for Terri, and for her parents who are fighting for her life.
(Reading: “Erring on the side of death,” San Francisco Chronicle, 8/19/03)
china
SPECIAL SERVICE: A Chinese hospital is now offering free abortions to girls under 18 — a program a Chinese news article refers to as a “special service.” In discussing a teen clinic in another part of the country, the article notes “Confidentiality is the guiding principle of the agency where girls receive free birth control within one week of having sexual intercourse.”
(Reading: “Pregnant teenagers turn to new avenues for professional help,” People’s Daily, 8/18/03)
cytotec
DO-IT-YOURSELF ABORTIONS: Brazilian health authorities are concerned about the increasing number of poor women who try to abort their babies by taking the ulcer drug Cytotec. In some cases, women who are caught may face criminal charges. The pills are available on the black market for $35, an amount equal to two weeks wages for the typical lower-income Brazilian. Although most abortions in Brazil are illegal, it is estimated that some one million are performed in the overwhelmingly Catholic country every year.
(Reading: “Ulcer pills used for abortions by poor Brazilians,” Detroit Free Press, 8/8/03)
dark side
FRANCES KISSLING: The leader of “Catholics for a Free Choice” outlines her “theology” in a recent release: “Catholics today have the freedom to exercise prudential judgment in deciding how best to implement the range of teachings and principles contained in the Catholic canon. Thus, some Catholics believe that abortion, while a serious moral issue, should not be illegal.”
COMMENT: The Vatican says, “laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death.” Thus, “some Catholics” are wrong.
(Reading: “‘Stop the climate of polarization,’ says Catholic leader,” Catholics for a Free Choice news release, 7/29/03; Doctrinal Note, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 11/24/02)
NOW: The National Organization for Women has issued an action alert “demanding” that Congress require hospitals to provide rape victims with so-called emergency contraception. Among the misstatements in the NOW request: “Providing emergency contraception is not the same as performing an abortion.”
COMMENT: Abortion proponents continue to deny the abortifacient potential of the chemicals in birth control pills. The manufacturers admit that one of the actions of these pills occurs post-fertilization; at that point, a human being exists. After the pill is taken, the human being ceases to exist. Why is that “not the same” as abortion?
(Reading: “Demand emergency contraception for rape victims,” NOW action alert, 7/31/03)
SPIN ZONE: NARAL introduces a new report with a dire statement insisting that some in Washington are “substituting right wing ideology for a scientific regard of the facts when it comes to medical issues involving reproductive rights. Now, a detailed new report released by the House Government Reform Committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman, unveils that it’s even worse than we thought.” The report denies the link between abortion and breast cancer, extols condom use, and minimizes the importance of abstinence before marriage.
(Reading: “New Congressional Report: Bush Administration Replaces Science with Ideology,” NARAL news release, 8/11/03)
human cloning
HUMAN-RABBIT HYBRID: Chinese researchers used cloning techniques to combine human and rabbit cells. More than 100 were created, then destroyed in order to obtain stem cells. Washington Post science writer Rick Weiss reports the “vast majority” of each embryo’s DNA was human. A spokesman for the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference says these embryos would have to be considered human, and therefore deserving of protection. Critics, however, say the Chinese report should be taken with a grain of salt, as China has a track record of reporting claims that are more fantasy than fact.
(Reading: “Cloning yields human-rabbit hybrid embryo,” Washington Post, 8/14/03; “Scientists doubt Chinese claim of rabbit-human clone,” NewsMax, 8/16/03)
PERSPECTIVE: Writing in the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, suggests people look at human cloning from a different angle. “One way to place ourselves before this question would be to put ourselves in the position, not of the scientists who perform the cloning, but of the embryo (which we also were at one stage).”
(Reading: “Cardinal asks people to identify with embryos to discourage cloning,” LifeSite News, 8/18/03)
REALITY CHECK: While researchers continue to tout the destruction of human embryos to obtain their stem cells, purportedly to concoct miracle cures for myriad exotic diseases, other scientists are quietly making real progress in their ethical work with adult stem cells. Experiments with rats have shown that stem cells from bone marrow can help repair damage caused by heart attacks. The researchers at work on this project are hopeful that similar results can be obtained with humans.
(Reading: “Study: Bone marrow cells can repair damaged heart,” Reuters, 8/11/03)
morning-after abortion pill
CANADA: Citing a World Health Organization report that so-called emergency contraceptives “are appropriate for general use,” Health Canada wants to make levonorgestrel available without a doctor’s prescription. A letter from Health Canada’s director general claims “levonorgestrel can prevent pregnancy if the first dose is taken within 72 hours following unprotected intercourse or a contraceptive accident.” Pharmacists for Life International is asking its Canadian members to object in writing to the proposal.
COMMENT: One of the modes of action of levonorgestrel does not “prevent” pregnancy; it terminates pregnancy. That is not contraception. It is abortion. Health Canada should know this, especially since its letter specifies that levonorgestrel works by “altering the endometrium (thus inhibiting implantation).”
(Reading: letter from Health Canada director general Robert Peterson, 6/16/03; action alert from Pharmacists for Life International/Canada, 8/10/03)
planned parenthood
TEXAS: When Planned Parenthood complained about a pro-lifer displaying an American flag outside its Bryan, Texas office, police cited a law restricting displays on public rights of way in asking the pro-lifer to move. When pro-lifers complained about selective enforcement, the solution was having every unauthorized American flag removed from public property.
(Reading: “Planned Parenthood shows true colors (and they aren’t red, white and blue),” STOPP International news release, 8/12/03)
population control
USAID: The United States is providing $115 million to various Pakistani programs, targeting Pakistan’s “health, population ministries, provincial and local governments and private sector with the aim of boosting healthcare for women and children.”
(Reading: “U.S. gives Pakistan $115.7m health grant,” The News International [Pakistan], 8/19/03)
the practice
BRIAN FINKEL: The Arizona abortionist’s sexual assault trial is under way this week. He’s accused of improper conduct with almost three dozen patients over a 15-year period. The Arizona Republic reports Finkel “relished being on the front lines of the abortion battle, terminating more than 20,000 pregnancies in 20 years and proud of it.”
(Reading: “Doctor faces 67 counts of sexual assault, abuse as trial starts today,” Arizona Republic, 8/18/03)
reflection for prayer
PSALM 146:6-7: The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets captives free.